However, the wellness potential of a supplement routine can extend much further than your daily multivitamin. Individual supplements—which are available in myriad forms and doses—are just as important for bolstering your regimen, addressing nutritional inadequacies, and targeting functional areas of health. With that said, most people can benefit from a multivitamin—about 40% of the American population1 fall well below daily nutritional requirements for multiple micronutrients (aka vitamins and minerals). The key is to choose a well-rounded, quality multivitamin/mineral product that offers nutrients in the right forms (i.e., bioavailable, gentle, etc.) and doses. This level of completeness will ensure your multi helps address your nutritional shortcomings, especially if you have a hard time hitting the daily recommended intake of five servings of fruits and veggies per day. “Meanwhile, some nutrients like vitamin D and many others aren’t even found in fruits and veggies, underscoring the pragmatic utility of smart supplementation further,” explains Ferira. (Need help choosing the right multivitamin? Check out our guide right here.) This is why it’s so important to make sure the multivitamin you’re buying is comprehensive (look for a full array of high-quality forms of vitamins, minerals, and even phytonutrients and botanical bioactives) and considered high-potency because it actually contains efficacious doses of each ingredient. Additionally, depending on the formula, some multis may not deliver as advanced or as targeted benefits as some individual vitamins. (Hence the case for individual vitamins for targeted needs above and beyond your multi). Absorption considerations are also in the mix. Case in point: “Many nutrients compete for absorption in your body,” explains registered dietitian Joanna Foley, R.D., CLT. Thus, taking multiple nutrients at once in the form of a multivitamin may actually decrease the absorption of some vitamins or minerals, she notes. Ferira explains further, “While this concept of competitive inhibition is true in a textbook sense, in practicality, this is only a real consideration when you’re megadosing macrominerals (e.g., calcium, magnesium, and potassium) alongside or around the same time you’re taking trace minerals.” Putting her nutrition scientist hat on, she divulges that, “no well-rounded or smartly formulated multi is megadosing macrominerals for this competitive inhibition reason, and also because these minerals are literally big—you would have to take loads of capsules or tablets.” She concludes and cautions: “In fact, this is precisely what stand-alone or mineral complexes (e.g., for bone health, sleep support, etc.) are for. Don’t take these larger doses of macrominerals at the same time as your multi to optimize the absorption and utility of the nutrients in both products.” This involves taking individual vitamins, minerals, and other bioactives (think phytonutrients, botanical and herbal extracts, omega-3s, peptides or amino acids, probiotic strains, etc.) in varying doses and forms, to not only fill nutritional gaps and achieve (and maintain) sufficiency but also for targeted health needs like brain, heart, immune, gut, beauty, and even eye health.* And don’t get confused: “Single vitamins as a concept is just semantics. It simply means leveraging stand-alone supplements or targeted complexes that are not a multivitamin for nutritional and overall health,”* Ferira explains. A personalized vitamin regimen may also pave the way for optimal absorption. As Foley notes, taking individual supplements at separate times of the day (or with certain meals) may be better absorbed and utilized by your body. For instance, “both zinc and calcium compete with iron for absorption,” shares Foley. So, if you’re taking large doses of zinc or calcium as stand-alone “vitamins” (i.e., they are technically minerals), it may be more beneficial to take zinc and calcium in the morning and iron midday or the evening rather than taking all three at the same time, she says. Additionally, if you’re taking multiple supplements with the same vitamins and minerals, in limited cases, you may end up taking more than you need—which can introduce negative side effects or simply exceed your needs altogether. For example, a multivitamin with iron combined with a separate stand-alone high-dose iron. Granted, that very scenario may be warranted in certain situations under health care supervision (e.g., perinatal nutrition or addressing an iron deficiency). Nutrition is so very personalized. In other cases, you are intentionally seeking additional amounts of nutrients in stand-alone formulas in order to bolster the baseline dose you receive in your multi. Vitamin D3 would be a prime example of that since science demonstrates that 5,000 IU or more is needed daily for adults to achieve and maintain sufficiency. Many vitamins and minerals have a tolerable upper intake level (UL), or the max daily intake that has been demonstrated to be safe to take. Higher intake levels over prolonged periods of time may lead to side effects. This is often considered a greater concern with fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K), as they can accumulate in the body’s fat tissue—instead of being excreted in the urine like water-soluble vitamins—according to Whittington. For example, “too much vitamin K may interfere with blood clotting,” says Foley. However, as Ferira once explained, making sweeping statements about the dangers of fat-soluble vitamins “lacks nuance and is an antiquated concept.” In fact, it’s quite difficult to reach toxic levels of fat-soluble vitamins, particularly vitamin D. She also says, “Every person is unique, so this is where consulting a health care provider makes a ton of sense.” For example, Ferira shares that “if you’re on medications related to blood clotting, then it’s important to keep your vitamin K intake constant and blood biomarkers monitored. It’s not about restriction but instead personalized approaches and monitoring.” As far as minerals go: Taking too much iron may lead to GI issues related to things moving along (or not) and abdominal discomfort and could affect zinc absorption, notes Foley. And while taking a harmful amount of magnesium is incredibly rare, it can lead to digestive upset, depending on the form. She goes on to say that “people think these supplements somehow preclude or exclude each other. That is absolutely not the case. They are not only complementary but are often essential to pair in your daily nutritional strategy to meet micronutrient needs with flying colors, but to also fully leverage targeted functional benefits beyond just filling gaps.” The latter part entails mindfully selecting single vitamins that aren’t usually found in certain multivitamins or for which higher dosing is nutritionally useful (i.e., required to achieve sufficiency) or functionally useful for things like cardiometabolic health parameters, immune resilience, gut function, and more.* If you’re not sure which nutrients to add to your lineup, consider the following nutrients. According to nationally representative data2, most folks could use more of these: Single vitamins, minerals, and related nutrients (e.g., omega-3s) also play pivotal roles in ensuring nutritional sufficiency in a targeted way, along with bolstering focused areas of health, depending on your specific needs.* To support overall nutrient sufficiency, look for a comprehensive and clean multi formula. Take mbg’s ultimate multivitamin+, for example: Our high-potency, vegan formula designed for women and men boasts an array of 33 active ingredients including vitamins and minerals we need on a daily basis (plus lesser-known bioactives, like longevity botanicals) to fully support whole-body health and wellness, all in just two daily capsules.*
